Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1993)

Directed by

Nick Broomfield

Genre

documentary film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 27m

Rated

R

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 75 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This documentary follows filmmaker Nick Broomfield as he tries to interview convicted serial killer Aileen Wuornos. He documents the obstacles put up by her adoptive mother and her lawyer, showing how people around Wuornos profited from her notoriety. The film questions whether Wuornos got a fair trial due to police and legal misconduct.

investigativeobservationalsoberingexploitativefrustratingrawunflinchingprobing

What happens

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer is a 1992 documentary film about Aileen Wuornos, made by Nick Broomfield. It documents Broomfield's attempts to interview Wuornos, which involves a long process of mediation through her adoptive mother, Arlene Pralle, and her lawyer, Steve Glazer. The film essentially highlights the exploitation of Wuornos by those around her and questions the fairness of her trial, given the vested interests of the police. The film was used by the defense in the Wuornos trial in 2001 to highlight the incompetence of Wuornos' original lawyer. It was through this process that Broomfield decided to make a second film, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. For the feature film Monster, Charlize Theron used this film as source material, apparently watching clips in-between takes in order to perfect her character. For her performance, Theron won a Best Actress Oscar, awarded on what would have been Wuornos's birthday. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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